Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Gale opens the door with a sigh, wondering if anyone's even home. Most of the lights are out and the house is quiet. His keys jingle as he pushes his way inside, kicking his shoes off by the door.
"Anyone home?" he calls. The stillness shifts, but only slightly. "For fuck's sake." Gale shakes his jacket off and hangs it on the coatrack. He's come all the way back from college to surprise his family for a weekend for what? His family isn't even here. Gale rounds the corner making plans to curl into bed early and see what's up in the morning when he spins into the kitchen. "Jesus Christ!"
All he sees at first is a knife, sharp and gleaming, pointed at him.
"Gale?" The knife lowers and Gale blinks a few times, letting the girl holding it come into focus. Madge Undersee. Madge Undersee is in his kitchen holding a knife at him. "What are you doing here?"
"What I am doing here?" he echoes. "This is my house. I live here. What are you doing here?" He reaches forward and snatches the knife from her hands and she lets him take it, putting her hands up lamely. "Why the hell do you have this?"
"I thought you were an intruder," she blurts. "I'm babysitting. I didn't know you'd be back." She eases backwards against the counter as Gale crosses the kitchen to place the knife back in the bamboo box. Madge lifts her hands to her face and presses her cheeks. "You scared me."
Gale grunts in response. He looks at Madge and finds her in her pajamas, her hair loosely tied back and out of her face. Madge Undersee. Why the hell is Madge Undersee babysitting?
"Where is everyone?"
"Oh, um," she fidgets under his gaze. "Posy is sleeping. She's the only one here. She wasn't feeling very well." Gale cocks an eyebrow and waits for her to continue. "Tonight's the talent show at the elementary school," she finally says. "Vick's reading a poem that he wrote so everyone went."
And they couldn't have told Gale? He would've been there if he had known. Now he feels like his surprise wasn't even worth it if he missed out on Vick's accomplishment.
Gale jerks his head forward and spins around, looking at the kitchen. He's glad Hazelle's kept things clean since he's been gone. Gale had heard a lot of horror stories about leaving home and things just going to shit. He should've known his mother wouldn't slack off just because Gale went away.
"Well I'm here now," Gale murmurs, "so you can go. I've got Posy." Madge hesitates, shifting on her feet. She looks around nervously. "Did Ma not pay you yet or something?"
Madge frowns, a crease appears between her eyebrows. "This isn't a paid job."
Can I pay you to leave?
"Well then—"
"I told Posy I'd be here if she had a bad dream."
Gale halts. "Why would she have a bad dream?" Madge remains silent. "Why would Posy have a bad dream?"
"Listen," Madge scratches her forehead. "I'm here until your mom gets back, okay? I don't think I—" Gale steps forward, grabbing Madge's arm as she turns away from him. She lets out a deep sigh. "Maybe you should've kept better contact with home when you went away, okay?"
Gale lets go of her.
She has no right to talk to him like this! Gale went away to school on scholarship; it wasn't his fault that the only place his family can afford is a few hours away. And it's not his fault that his major requires intensive studying and work, and that he has to work practically a fulltime job so he can pay off all of the loans they had to take out.
He leaves the kitchen without looking back, listening to Madge's quiet footsteps following him.
"I didn't mean that," she says quickly. "Gale, wait!"
"Just get out of here," he growls.
"I didn't mean it like that," Madge repeats. He paces into the living room and she grabs the hem of his shirt, getting him to turn around. "Something happened," Madge says. He lifts an eyebrow. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you this."
"Tell me what?" Gale doesn't understand why she's here and why she's talking to him like this. Aren't there other people to harass? "What happened, Undersee?"
"It's not the end of the world and everything is okay now," she rambles on.
"Madge," Gale hisses. "For Christ's sake!"
"Posy was sick," Madge says quickly, her eyes somewhere not on him. "Really sick, not just like a cold, and they were in the hospital for a few days and she still has really bad dreams about it. She's okay now, sort of, they're still taking blood samples, but the trip really freaked her out and—"
His face falls and he steps toward her. "What do you mean she was sick?"
After Madge reiterates the fact that Posy is fine, that she's fine and healthy and no longer ill, Gale finally calms down. He and Madge sit on the couch as she debriefs him on what happened.
It turns out that Rory transferred his case of strep throat to Posy, but the little girl didn't show any symptoms. It went untreated and spread down her throat, and the infection caused some sort of inflammation in her kidneys. She was urinating blood and her body and joints hurt incredibly. It wasn't until Posy forgot to flush one day did Hazelle catch the rust colored urine and ask Posy about it. The little girl never said anything because she didn't want anyone to worry.
They rushed her to the hospital immediately and found Posy's blood pressure through the roof. She turned out being allergic to the medicine they gave her and burst out into hives, her blood pressure still too high for a six year old child.
Finally they found something that worked but Posy was too scared to calm down. She wouldn't sleep and when she did manage to snooze off she woke with a start. They put her on antibiotics to kill the infection and she was okay in a few days. She only has one more blood sample to be taken before she's verified all healed up.
Gale has been listening to Madge's soft voice as she explained what happened with his head in his hands. He's rubbing at his temples and he sighs when her story comes to a close, slowly lifting his head. Madge looks at him patiently.
"I didn't know," he says.
"I know. They didn't want you to." He lets out another sigh, this one filled with frustration. "It's okay, Gale, she's fine now."
"It's my fault," he mutters. Madge shifts slightly. "I got strep throat at school, came home for a weekend to get some rest and feel better, must've given it to Rory." Gale stares the ground with his eyebrows furrowed. "I nearly killed my sister."
"Gale," Madge reaches out and rests her hand on his shoulder. When he doesn't pull away she scoots closer. "That isn't true and you know it."
"If it wasn't for me—"
"Stop it," she squeezes his shoulder and he sighs loudly. Gale turns to look at her. "Posy's fine. She's a strong little girl, you know that." But that isn't enough for him. His mother never told him that Posy was sick, let alone where it came from. What if they never found a medicine that got her blood pressure down? What if she was allergic to everything and just died? It would've been his fault, passing the strep throat to her. "I agree that they should have told you," she says softly. "But it wasn't my place, and I didn't like to talk about it, and—"
"Madge," Gale cuts her off gently. None of this is her fault. He shouldn't have been so short with her earlier, it's clear she cares an extreme amount for Posy. "It's okay." He still feels bitterness resonating in his chest, though. He's going to have to talk to his mother about this when they get back. "I got Posy. You can go. I'll tell them all you said goodnight."
She's hesitant, but after looking at him for a few quiet moments she finally agrees to leave.
As Madge is gathering her things and heading for the door both she and Gale hear tiny footsteps padding down the staircase. Madge turns around just in time to find Posy rushing toward Gale, flinging herself at him and squeezing his leg tightly.
"Gale!" Posy cheers in a very sleepy voice. "You're home, you're home!"
"Hey, Pose," he grins, scooping her up into his arms and pulling her close. Her tiny arms latch around his neck and she squeezes him into the tightest hug. She feels so fragile in his arms, and he can't help but feel a little guilty now that he knows how sick she was. "I missed you," he murmurs into her hair.
"I missed you more," Posy says. She pulls away and cups Gale's cheeks smiling. "I'm so happy you're here!"
"Yeah? What're you doing awake?" he kisses her nose. "Hm? I think it's past your bedtime." Gale tickles her and Posy squirms, giggling loudly before falling silent. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asks quietly. Posy tips her head forward. "Madge told me all about what happened," Gale tells her. Posy won't look at him. "Hey, it's okay Pose. I got you now." She nods a few times before smiling a little, and Gale leans down to kiss her cheek. "Let's get you back to bed, okay?"
Posy looks up and finds Madge near the door ready to go. She probably should've left during their reunion but it's so rare to find Gale being the sweetheart that Madge knows he is so she decided to stay. Madge dips her head, ashamed to have been caught, but Posy doesn't seem to mind.
"You're leaving?" the little girl asks.
Madge dips her head, "Gale's got you now." Gale lowers Posy to the floor and she rushes over to Madge, who picks her up just as Gale had. "I'll see you soon though," Madge tells her, brushing Posy's hair out of her face with her fingertips. "I promised you and Vick ice cream, remember?"
"I won't forget," Posy nods, leaning forward and giving Madge a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. Madge smiles and carries Posy over to Gale, transferring her back to him. "Goodnight, Madge!"
"Sleep well," she says with a soft smile.
Gale stares at Madge a moment, her cheek still wet with saliva because she's smart enough not to wipe away a kiss from Posy, and smiles too. "Wait here," Gale says quietly. "I'll be right back." Madge nods and waves to Posy as Gale turns and carries her up the stairs.
Posy falls asleep in Gale's arms before they even reach her bedroom. He tucks her in gently and leaves her favorite stuffed bear by her side before making sure that her nightlight is still on. When he makes it back downstairs Madge is admiring the wall of family photos, thoughtfully observing one before moving onto the next. The bottom stair squeaks no matter how quiet Gale tries to be and Madge turns around quickly, smiling sheepishly at him.
"Well," she exhales as he crosses the room. "I should be going if you've got it all covered."
He stops her. "Why you?" he asks. They weren't friends in high school. They hardly ever spoke, though she was always sweet when they did, and were definitely not friends. How did Hazelle manage to get Madge to be the babysitter?
"Well Katniss is no good with kids," Madge says, smiling slightly. Gale smiles, too. "When Hazelle asked her, she recommended me. And I love kids. Your family is great, I have no trouble with them."
Somewhere in the back of his mind Gale remembers that Madge doesn't have any siblings, and her parents are busy often. Gale reaches back and scratches his neck.
"Yeah, well, Posy seems to like you."
Madge laughs. "I would hope so." She takes another step backwards. "Tell Hazelle to call me whenever?"
The way Madge says Gale's mother's name so easily causes him to smile. Like an old family friend. "Sure, of course." Gale nods his head as Madge moves toward the door. "It was nice to see you, Undersee."
She smiles. "I'm glad you weren't an intruder. I don't think I would've actually been able to use that knife." He likes to think that's her way of saying it was nice to see him, too. She bites on her bottom lip and lets out a quiet breath. "Goodnight, Gale."
"Night."
Madge glances over her shoulder one last time before leaving. Gale should've let her stay until his family got back.